Teaser Tuesday: 'Blue Light' by Walter Mosley

Soulclap to Reads4Pleasure for introducing me to Teaser Tuesdays, a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along!  Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page either in the comments below or on your own blog (give a link to your blog so we can check it out!)
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm currently reading Blue Light, by Walter Mosley.

"As I said it, I realized that this was the first death of a Blue other than those that died on the first night that light fell ... All the Blues that had lived were healthy, never sick, and somehow had the appearance of agelessness." - Page 62

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT (a.k.a. VILLAGE VOICES) with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Asante sana!

Diversity Roll Call: Fantasy or Science Fiction

Our blog joins a new weekly meme created by the folks at Worducopia and Color Online. This meme, Diversity Roll Call, seeks to diversify our reading habits.

This week the focus is on science fiction and fantasy, two genres where people of color are often absent or sidekicks, but rarely the main character.

I am a science fiction fan. I read most of the books by Robert Heinlein and Larry Niven when I was a youngster. These were great stories about space, people, relationships and the future. Unfortunately, there were no African Americans in these stories.

So, I was blown away when I first began to read books by Octavia Butler. She had a vision for the future of our world that was often very bleak. However, she always have strong Black characters that are dealing with the elements, situations and issues like religion. Oddly, my favorite Octavia Butler story isn't about the future ... rather it is about the past. The book called, Kindred, tells the story of a modern-day Black woman transported into the American slavery era. It describes how a modern-day liberated sister would deal with life in a society that treats her as chattel rather than as a human being.

Another author that I like is Walter Mosley. This African American dabbled into science fiction with a book called Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World. Mosley is best known for his series of novels featuring characters like Easy and Mouse. It is wonderful to see him demonstrate creative range with this science fiction work set a generation from now.

Your assignment: spotlight science fiction and fantasy titles where people of color are the leads, works by people of color in these genres or discuss your thoughts about race in these genres. Do you notice the absence of color? In what ways is race portrayed in fantasy and science fiction beyond using traditional racial terms like black and white? If the book covers prominently features people of color, does it affect your perception? Are we more comfortable with imaginary characters versus different race in these works?